Cholangiocarcinoma is a cancer of the bile ducts, which drain bile from
the liver into the small intestine. Cholangiocarcinoma is a relatively
rare adenocarcinoma, with an annual incidence of 1–2 cases per 100,000
in the Western world, but rates of cholangiocarcinoma have been rising
worldwide over the past several decades. Prominent symptoms of
cholangiocarcinoma include abnormal liver function tests, abdominal
pain, jaundice, weight loss, and sometimes generalized itching, fever,
or changes in stool or urine color. The disease is diagnosed through a
combination of blood tests, imaging, endoscopy, and sometimes surgical
exploration, though it commonly presents at Stage III or IV: too late
to be resected surgically. Though most patients present without any
risk factors evident, known risk factors for cholangiocarcinoma include
primary sclerosing cholangitis, congenital liver malformations,
infection with the parasitic liver flukes Opisthorchis viverrini or
Clonorchis sinensis, and exposure to Thorotrast (thorium dioxide).
Cholangiocarcinoma is considered to be an incurable and rapidly lethal
disease unless all of its tumors can be fully resected. There is no
potentially curative treatment except surgery, but unfortunately most
patients have advanced and inoperable disease at the time of diagnosis.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholangiocarcinoma>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
American Revolutionary War: British forces defeated the Continental
Army at the Battle of Trois-Rivières, the last major battle fought on
Quebec soil that was part of the American colonists' invasion of
Quebec.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trois-Rivi%C3%A8res>
1783:
Iceland's Laki craters began an eight-month eruption, triggering major
famine and massive fluorine poisoning.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki>
1949:
Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopian political novel by English writer
George Orwell about life in the fictional totalitarian government of
Oceania, was first published.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four>
1950:
Thomas Blamey became Australia's first and currently only Field
Marshal.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blamey>
1995:
Danish-Greenlandic programmer Rasmus Lerdorf released the first public
version of the scripting language PHP for producing dynamic web pages.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PHP>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cupidity (n):
Extreme greed, especially for wealth
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cupidity>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells, "Can't
you remember anything I told you?" and lets fly with a club.
--John W. Campbell
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_W._Campbell>